Rugby players were rarely out of the headlines in 2011, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. England’s disastrous World Cup campaign in New Zealand, which will be remembered for a string of misdemeanors both on and off the pitch has put the sport and its players firmly in the spotlight.
With the Six Nations tournament kicking off this weekend, our latest analysis shows that rugby union and it’s players are hot on the heels of their football counterparts when it comes to twitter and social interaction, and it’s Ireland that is leading the way.
Former captain and British Lion Brian O’Driscoll was found to be Europe’s most followed rugby player on Twitter. O’Driscoll, who will miss this year’s Six Nations Championship because of injury, has more than 135,000 followers. That’s well ahead of the giant French forward Sebastien Chabal who charged into second place with almost 90,000 followers.
Irish players fill no fewer than 7 places in the LEWIS PR Twitter First 15. The top placed English player is full back Ben Foden in 4th place with 67,000 followers. Jamie Roberts beats his captain Sam Warburton to be named the most followed Welsh player but there’s no place in the top 15 for any player from either Scotland or Italy.
England bad boys Danny Care and Mike Tindall both make the list. Care, who will miss the Six Nations after being disciplined following a drink driving ban, is in 10th place with Tindall, who was at the centre of so much of the controversy at last autumn’s Rugby World Cup, is 12th on the team sheet with more than 33,000 followers.
Amongst those rugby super stars who don’t make the list are Jonny Wilkinson, Gavin Henson and new England rugby captain Chris Robshaw. Wilkinson, who has just retired from international rugby, has 23,000 followers, TV celebrity Henson, who’s recently been recalled to the Wales squad, has fewer than 20,000 and Robshaw has less than 10,000.
“Following our recent research into the Premiership and the other main football leagues across Europe this shows us that rugby still has some way to go to catch up with football. But there is no doubt that Europe’s top players are becoming more and more engaged with fans across social media,” said LEWIS PR’s Head of Content Keith Beech.
The report found that Ireland interacts best with fans on its www.Irishrugby.ie website. In the Six Nations table England pip Wales for second place while World Cup finalists France collect the wooden spoon for www.ffr.fr, which proved to be the least effective of the national sites for engaging with its supporters according to LEWIS.
“Social media has fundamentally reshaped the way people interact with the world around them and this is no more apparent than within the field of sport,” said Dean Russell the European Social Media Director at LEWIS. “Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have allowed a new generation of fans to connect with their sporting idols and our research shows that rugby is beginning to embrace this.”
“For the nation’s sites it’s important that they do not just use these social channels to broadcast their messages but also to open up an authentic dialogue with fans to answer queries and complaints as promptly and efficiently as possible,” he adds.
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A second version of the infographic with the results can be found below. You can click on both of the images to see larger versions. Details of the methodology used, and further queries, are available on request by emailing socialsixnations@lewispr.com.
Tags: Digital, LEWIS PR, Social Media, Twitter, web analytics
